merve.unsal [at] gmail.com

10/07/201710/07/2017

Photograms, 2017

A photogram is a photograph produced without a camera. These three images have been produced by exposing light on photosensitive paper. We see one, three, seven cubes of ice melting —records using only light and water.

Produced on the occasion of:

Utilitarian efforts, non-utilitarian works

May 18–June 03, 2017

When the butterfly camouflages itself to hide from a predator, it mimics its environment to the utmost detail, including the traces of larva on a leaf. The butterfly thus goes beyond what is absolutely necessary to protect itself, blending into the surroundings to a point that the predator can’t appreciate. The “perfection” of the butterfly’s camouflage becomes luxuriously beautiful, which could be related to the aesthetics of violence, surveillance, and inactivity. The exhibition proposes that pleasures of looking, seeing, viewing and the abstraction of art, beautifying of the horrendous might have an intricate relationship.

The artists participating in the exhibition try to figure out the point where aesthetic pleasure loses its function. Could the process of camouflage, which is both vital and instinctive for the butterfly to survive, and the consequent perfect moment enjoyed by the bystander, ever have an “appropriate” relationship? As artists, when we try to blend into our surroundings or when we try to camouflage ourselves, does that mean that we are concealing the things we have been exposed to?

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Merve Ünsal is a visual artist based in Istanbul. In her works, she employs text and photography, possibly beyond their form. Merve holds an MFA in Photography and Related Media from Parsons The New School of Design and a BA in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University. She is currently a participant at the Homework Space Program 2014-15 at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut. She has participated in artist residencies at the Delfina Foundation and at the Banff Centre. Merve is the founding editor of the artist-driven online publishing initiative m-est.org.